An Australian man has been left red-faced after a stunt with a dangerous shark backfired.

Shaun Harrington, 27, decided to swim in the sea with a 2.4 metre man-eating tiger shark for an "extreme cage diving" experience.

But instead of using a proper reinforced steel shark cage for protection he used just a small budgie cage bought for $50 (£30).

Image Caption:Mr Harrington prepares for his swim

In an interview with Australia's Channel 9, Mr Harrington admitted his cage diving stunt was "not the smartest thing" to do and it "sort of went wrong".

The incident was all caught on camera. The footage begins with a joking Mr Harrington putting his head in the cage on board a boat before jumping into the sea off Coolangatta on Australia's Gold Coast.

The shark can then be seen swimming right up to Mr Harrington, forcing him to hold the cage with his hands in an attempt to fend it off.

Screaming in terror he then scrambles back onto the boat.

"I'm pretty much in the dog house," Mr Harrington told Channel 9’s Today show, saying his wife is not talking to him.

Mr Harrington said he knew the shark - which had been landed by a professional fisherman friend - was in the water when he jumped in, but he had not expected the beast to "come at" him.

"I just thought 'I gotta get out of here'," Mr Harrington said. "I saw the shark coming and threw the budgie cage in front of it and it just bounced off it."

Fortunately, the self-confessed adrenalin junkie was not injured in the escapade.

"I thought I would just jump in, get a couple of shots and hop out, but the thing just went crazy.

"It wigged-out and came at me. It's probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done."